Lost Girl
by Izzie Jackson
Summary: She spent years running away from who she was. A granddaughter, eldest daughter of Rudy Hopkins and Abigail Bennett; sister to Bonnie Bennett. She would admit, she hasn't seen her sister since she was thirteen. Now she was back after almost a decade to bring her sister back from a purgatory that doesn't exist anymore. Bennetts always looked out each other, lost & all. Season 6 AU
1. prelude: for bonnie

prelude

for bonnie

* * *

She woke up in a sweat. Her chest was heavy and it felt water was sploshing around in her lungs, her mind playing along with the illusion that she had swallowed salt water. Her hands moved around to grasp something. The pads of her fingers felt the scratchy material of the bedsheets. White but there were stains that previous washings couldn't get out. She could still sense the previous activities on these sheets. When people would hide away in the room she resided in, tearing away at their clothes as they were consumed by lust. Her fingers pressed deeper into the stiff fabric and she could feel something else. Cold, bitter; the scar death left behind. That would explain the splotches of dingy brown. In a way, it was familiar. It didn't feel safe. It wasn't by any means safe.

But it was something real.

Her eyes fluttered close as focused on her breathing. Her lungs burned as she tried to breath. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven and repeat. She was fine, she wasn't drowning. The water in her lungs were simply an illusion.

She fell asleep to the sound of the ceiling fan whirling overhead. The last thing she heard was someone calling a name. _"Matt!"_

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She is walking out a gas station. The large Big Gulp in her hands was a colorful concoction of strawberry, blue raspberry and a hint of tropical slush. The icy beverage was good for the blazing sun overhead. Her vision was being blocked by the large sunglasses she wore over her face. Her car rested on the side of the road, a baby blue Bug; a gift from her grandmother. The grandmother she walked out on.

Shelia Bennett had been many things to various people. To the townspeople of goodie-two shoes Mystic Falls, she was a crazed alcoholic who couldn't keep a grip on her sanity since her wife up and left her husband of nine years and her two daughters. She was the woman who people witnessed having a shouting match with a rebellious fifteen year old one sunny afternoon as she carried her ten year old sister down the stairs.

The teen had called her so many things.

Crazy, senile, a drunkard who couldn't couldn't keep her wayward daughter to stay in town. Those were the nicer ones.

They had witnessed a seventeen year old girl getting chewed out by said crazed woman for being busted at a college party. If few remembered, they would have witnessed a freshly eighteen year old girl sneaking away from her grandmother's house in the sleeping hours between night and dawn, climbing into her car and never looking back.

Eight years on the run.

Eight years since she left Mystic Falls behind in her rear view mirror. Almost a decade had passed. How was her grandmother? How was her sister? Her dad she didn't really care too much about. She had seen him a few months ago, while in a crowded bar in Nevada. He had been with some of his business partners when he had spotted her in crowd. He was standing to come to her when someone had blocked his path. She was out the door before he made his way to the bar and half way down the road when he exited the bar.

Placing the cup of sugary goodness on the hood of her car, she reached into her bag to grab her keys. When she looked up, her grandmother's reflection was standing right behind her. She let out a shriek and whirled around expecting to see Shelia Bennett's scowl of disapproval, but found nothing.

She whirled around to see the reflection.

"You're not losing your head child." The spectator said. "This is the only way I can connect with you, since you've given up on communicating with the spirits."

"G-grams?"

Shelia nodded. "The one and the same. It's been some time since I've seen you Row."

Row. No one called her that anymore. It was just Rowan. Never anything else. Row reminded her of home, of her life in that hellhole. It reminded her of the pigtailed little twerp she left behind.

"How?" Rowan asked, referring to her death. There was no other way her grandmother could have found her. Shelia was on the other side and it wasn't a good thing.

"Magic comes with a price, darling. I've mentioned that many times."

Rowan nodded. "So why the visit after eight years?"

"Your sister, child, that's why I'm here."

Her entire form stilled. "What about Bonnie?"

Shelia's eyes dimmed, the scowl on her lips flattened and she took a deep breath. "Your sister has been through much hell since you left."

"What happened to her Grams?" Rowan asked. She was dodging the question and she was not going to have that. Whatever happened to Bonnie, she was entitled to know. Bonnie was her sister. Her blood.

Shelia sighed. "I wanted her to be happy. I...wanted her to find peace."

There was a sinking in her stomach. It was like stones has been thrown into a well, and the more that there thrown, it filled her belly and she was being weighted down. It was like that dream. Water in her lungs, struggling to breath, crying out for someone. Or the time she woke up in utter pain, her entire body unable to move for some time. Days it had been. She had been laying in the backseat of her Bug, in so much pain that she cried. The storm that had brewed had been a result.

"She's dead," Rowan choked out, her voice raw. There were tears in her eyes, there was a lump in her throat. Her magic was going haywire. Her sister was dead. Her baby sister was gone. "I...why didn't I feel it?"

"Bonnie hasn't been a witch for a while," Shelia said. "You need to get to Mystic Falls."

"Why?"

"For Bonnie." Her grandmother vanished from the window after that.

Rowan sighed and jerked her car open. She grabbed the cup of Big Gulp, placed it in its holder and started her car. She looked in her backseat. A makeshift bed with her next day's clothes folded up. She always kept her money in the glove compartment and it was spelled so only she could open it. Her duffel was in the trunk. She reached for the glove compartment and looked at the only few photos she kept.

A picture of her and her family when they were actually a whole unit. There was one of her when Bonnie was born, all squishy and alien like. She took the picture of her and Bonnie: ages 12 and 7 respectively. Rowan had just joined the spirit squad and Bonnie had been her little carbon copy. Matching pigtails, smiles and clothes. Shelia had made Bonnie's uniform. She smiled weakly.

"Hold on there, blue bell. I'm coming for you."


	2. one: a stranger walks into a bar

Okay ladies and gents, first thing is first.

I do not own Vampire Diaries. That is CW property, as well as novel property of LJ Smith.

I do own Rowan, well the concept of her anyway. Her face claim is the lovely Meagan Tandy. Also, I'm currently playing around with the idea of Bonnie being in a poly relationship with Luke and Tyler. I mean, yes Luke is gay but this is my fan fiction :3

Anywho, Rowan will have a love interest as well. But not right now. Oh no, for the Bennett gals, it's slow burning season.

The Traveller's spell to keep Mystic Falls supernatural free never happened. The Other Side was destroyed and Bonnie and Damon were taken with it. But where they went, I'm gonna keep that hidden mostly cause I'm still planning that out.

Enjoy you guys.

* * *

first

a stranger walks into the bar

She came into town like a hurricane: unexpected and in her path, she left a trail. But unlike a hurricane, it was not destruction. No, when Rowan Bennett stepped back into the quaint little town of Mystic Falls, she left behind her whispers. Questions of where she had been. Why she was back? If she knew? She knew. Or at least, she knew enough. She had called Lucy before coming here. Her cousin was kind enough to tell her about her father's death, about Abby's visits and then transition into a vampire; how she couldn't accept it and just vanished into the wind. She snorted at that. Once a drifter, always a drifter. Rowan was starting to wonder if it was hereditary.

She paused as she came across the Grille. She could remember all the times she spent hanging out with Bonnie and her friends, playing chaperon to everything they did. She could remember how little Matt Donovan and Tyler Lockwood would try and talk to her.

She wondered how they were now.

When Matt Donovan looked up to see his former crush and his friend's long lost sister, he didn't know what to expect. He definitely wasn't expecting to see Rowan Bennett after so many years. As usual, she took his breath away.

He always thought she was attractive.

Caroline and Elena noticed his reaction first. "Matt are you okay?" asked Elena as she waved her hand in front of his face.

"Matt?" Caroline asked and then followed his line of vision. Her jaw dropped at the sight.

"Matt, what's wrong?" Elena asked, ignoring how Caroline was slapping at her arm. She had brought Stefan here for a drink to help him get over Damon and Bonnie's sacrifices. She was trying a different route from the witch herbs as well, since Luke was no longer supplying her. Apparently Tyler did not like that his boyfriend was playing a part-time drug dealer to a grieving vampire. Elena frowned when Caroline yanked her arm. "What?" she hissed.

Caroline just pointed towards the woman coming over to the bar. Stefan, who had been drowning himself in alcohol, glanced over out the corner of his eye.

A young woman of twenty six was walking towards them and everything about her screamed three things. One, she was force to be reckoned with so don't get in her way. The second thing he noticed about her was that she walked into the bar and was able to grasp all of his friends attention so she must be someone from their past. The third thing was that she smelt of vanilla and a hint of lilac; a hint of Bonnie but had a strong smell of autumn. Spices, mostly cinnamon, rolled off her skin. Her eyes were a soft mix of green and hazel, her wavy dark hair hit her shoulders and her lips were painted a soft petal pink.

She looked damn well sexy in a grey tank top, black jeans, what appeared to be designer Italian motorcycle boot and a pair of shades on her head. The classic look of a badass woman.

She stopped right in front of them and ran her eyes over all of them before settling them on Elena.

"Alright, when were you idiots going to fess up to my sister being dead for four months?" she asked.

Stefan blinked.

What?

The young woman racked her eyes over all of them once more. "Well? I mean, considering as how you guys, minus the Ripper over here, all grew up with her, I'd assume you all were going to have the sense to try and locate me and let me know."

Matt flushed. "We...um, I never thought we'd see you again, Row."

The girl's lip moved in a twitch at the name. "Look, I don't care. I know I walked out but I'm still her family damn it. Do I feel shitty for what I did to her? Yes I do because no one should leave their sibling behind. Now, I'm gonna ask you again. Why didn't you think it was okay to tell me that Bonnie was dead?"

Stefan blinked rapidly. "You're Bonnie's sister? She had a sister?" he directed the last question to the others.

"Bonnie didn't like to talk about it," Caroline sighed. "To her, it was like waking on the next morning and crying because she would never see her sister all over again."

Rowan winched. She could imagine how much pain Bonnie had been in to loose not just her mom but also her sister. Add on their grandmother and now their father and her sister had basically been alone.

"Nevermind why she didn't say it," Elena said with a frown. "Why are you here now?"

"Look, I've got some problems with this place," Rowan said. "I left because I didn't want to be under my grandmother's thumb anymore. And don't look at me like I'm a horrible person. Heard you were taking witch herbs to get a little trip going. Bad thing there Elena, especially since it was your dead boyfriend you were hallucinating and not your best friend."

Caroline cut a Elena look of sheer rage. "You were what!?"

Elena felt her face burn. "You..who told you that? Was it Luke?"

"Witches talk, Elena." Rowan snorted. "I don't know any Luke."

Matt spoke up. "Rowan, why are you here?"

"To grieve for my sister," she said before determination took her in her face. "And to bring her back."

* * *

This was going to be longer, but I can't think of much for this chapter right now. So here you guys go and I hope you enjoy. I'm going to try and update all of my stories, even the ones that have been on here since I first started or the ones I kept since my deleting of them a few months ago. Hopefully by the summer, all of them should have been updated at least once or twice.

Also, my hiatus isn't over just yet. I'm taking a breather before finals hit. So I'm going to be busy as Hades for next few weeks. Wish me luck you guys!


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